3 Years Exactly
by Arisuke
Summary: Set right after Starcraft: Brood War, it's about a group of UED soldiers who barely survived the attack on Admiral DuGalle's group by the Zerg in space.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: I don't own Starcraft and its franchise, just this story. Please, I beg you all, read and review it.**

Starcraft

3 Years Exactly – Prologue

A man was sitting comfortably on his chair in his quarters. He can feel his Battlecruiser moving towards the destination he had set an hour ago. On his left hand, there was a charred datapad. He took out a memory chip, which fortunately was still in working condition and fixed it in his computer.

While waiting for his computer to load the information inside the chip, he took out a can of ale from his mini fridge and opened it. As he was about to sip his ale, a message popped on his computer screen stating that the loading had finished and asked if he wanted to open the information. He took a sip anyway and clicked YES to open.

At first, he thought he was reading a military journal, but he realized he was reading a personal journal of a soldier. He fast-forwarded the journal to the last page and noticed that the span of the journal from the first day to the last was exactly 3 years. He then began to read from the start again.

**What do you guys think about this story? Please read and review it. If you can't, you guys can go to my profile and answer the poll there.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I don't own Starcraft and its franchise.**

Starcraft

3 Years Exactly - Chapter 1

_This isn't supposed to happen to any of us,_ thought an UED Marine before he fired his C-141 AC Rifle directly into a Hydralisk's head. As the Hydralisk dropped to the ground, he looked back at his men firing furiously at the incoming Zerg. _Right now there are 68 of us and definitely not enough to hold the ship. Damn it, why finish us now instead on that platform? Just what did that damn Zerg bitch told Admiral DuGalle?_

As he was about to reload his weapon, he received a transmission from a transport pilot.

"First Sergeant Wesher, everyone on the _Versailles_ has been evacuated. It is time for you guys go."

Wesher nodded, "Echo Company, pull back to the docking bay now."

"Yes, sir," replied soldiers in unison.

The docking bay was about 150 metres away from their position. They ran as fast as they can, but the Zerg still managed to mow down 4 of the marines and a firebat.

"Come on, guys. Go. I'll cover your backs," a firebat called out when they finally reach docking bay doors. At the docking bay, there were three dropships. Good thing about these dropships that they can take 20 soldiers at one go. Another 6 if they really squeezed in.

Wesher stood beside the firebat as he fired at the nearest Zergling. When everyone had passed through the docking bay doors, the firebat fired his flamethrower at the two Hydralisks and three Zerglings charging at them. The five Zerg units then let out a demonic scream as their bodies melted because of the intense heat.

"Let's go, Maine. We're done here," said Wesher.

"You go first, sir. I'll cover you," he replied.

"Don't be a hero, Maine. We accomplished our objectives. Now go," said Wesher as he noticed the rest of his men were urging both of them to hurry up to the ship.

"I have nothing left to lose, Wesher. Let me die for you guys," he said.

_Well, that's true. All this while, soldiers like us always thought for the bigger picture. A soldier's life can be used to save more than one person. Still, Corporal Maine hasn't been the same since his younger brother died defending the Psi Disrupter from the Zerg and its unlikely allies, Wesher thought._

Wesher looked at the next wave of Zerglings and couple of Hydralisks coming towards them. Wesher then gave Maine a certain look which meant "Hate to lose you, but good luck".

"Thank you, sir," Maine said as he understood Wesher's look. He aimed his flamethrower and pulled the trigger while shouting, "Come on, you stupid fucking sons of bitches. Is that what you got?" With that said, his flamethrower furiously spewed out more fire.

Wesher quickly ran to the nearest dropship without looking back at him and went on board. As the dropship lift and about to close it doors, Wesher heard a certain explosion that only a firebat can make when his flammable liquid tank explode.

Wesher then quickly went to the pilot cockpit. Along the way, he can see the faces of 22 men of Echo Company sweating. At the cockpit, he saw the first dropship already flew out and the second one was following suit. The pilot quickly followed the second one. The only plausible thing to do was to land the dropships at the nearest planet, which coincidently within their sight.

Outside the _Versailles_, the space battle was very chaotic and was very obvious who was gaining the upper hand. Wesher saw many of the UED Wraith fighters destroyed by Zerg Mutalisks, Devourers and Scourges.

A loud explosion was heard that came from behind the dropship. It was the _Versailles_. She finally exploded after receiving countless attacks from the Zerg.

Now that the ship was destroyed, Wesher noticed that he felt sad. The ship was the one that became battalion headquarters after his battalion was assigned to it. The ship brought them here to this Sector and provided all the supplies that they need during the course of the Koprulu Campaign. It was like a new home to him and he was getting comfortable staying in it.

The pilot was trying to keep up with second dropship in the terrible chaos and she was doing a good job at it. Still, luck wasn't on Wesher's side as a Wraith fighter crashed into the second dropship. Both ships exploded and the pilot had to steer sharply away. Because of that, the pilot had lost visual contact with the first dropship.

"Damn it. I lost visual contact DSV-118," the pilot said. "And they don't appear the radar too."

"Call them now," Wesher ordered, but in his mind he knew that DSV-118 was probably got destroyed.

"Yes, sir," she replied. She called three times but received no response.

"That's enough. Now land this dropship," Wesher ordered. By this time, Wesher was sure that his remaining men saw what had happen to the second dropship and heard about the first. Wesher had the urge to talk to them about losing their comrades, but he knows that it was not right time or place. Besides, all of them knew the risk of being soldiers.

Through the amazing piloting skills, the dropship finally reached just outside the planet's orbit.

"Echo Company, it's time," Wesher said shouted out loud to his men because of the noises from the battle outside. With this order, each soldier closed their visor.

They were just about to enter orbit when the radar detected several Mutalisks tailing the dropship. Wesher knew that the pilot had a difficult choice. Either to move fast while entering orbit and get destroyed by the atmosphere or move slowly and get destroyed by the Mutalisks. Both choices don't looked good at all, but landing on the planet would give a higher chance of surviving for Wesher and his men.

"Just land this ship, pilot," Wesher said. "Echo Company, hold onto something. We'll be in one hell of a ride."

He and his men were able to hear the screams of the Mutalisks getting nearer to the ship. And for the first time in his life, Wesher prayed to God. He prayed for the safety of his men, the pilot and himself. All his life he never believed in God, but now he hoped that God would listen to his prayer right then.

The dropship had just entered the planet when the Mutalisks shot two of the dropship's four boosters and exploded. This caused the dropship to become unstable and it quickly swerved to the left. With the help of the planet's gravity, the dropship gained the uncontrollable speed as it headed towards the forest.

There was a big crash.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I do not own Starcraft or its franchise, just this story. I hope you guys like this story. If you don't like how this story goes, PLEASE review and point out my mistakes. I'll try to change it.**

3 Years Exactly – Chapter 2

"Wesher, hey."

Wesher heard his name being called by a familiar voice. His head was pounding like hell, so his first response was a grunt.

"You okay, Wesher?"

"No, someone had screwed my head," Wesher said, as he got up and recognised Sergeant Hank Aldoren sitting next to him.

"Well, the Zerg did screw us up. Open your visor and breathe the fresh air."

"The air here is breathable?"

"Very much."

Wesher opened his visor and the fresh air replaced the stale air in his lungs. "What happen, Hank?"

"Our dropship crashed into the forest, just in case you've forgotten."

"Right. I remember now. Where are the rest of the men?"

"Holding up a perimeter on this hill. There were three casualties. The pilot died in the crash itself. Two were killed by Zerglings while scouting ahead outside of this forest."

"The Zerg followed us here?"

"Yeah. I guess that bitch wanted to make sure that all of us are dead."

_Damn that bitch,_ Wesher thought as he scrutinized the area. He was satisfied that the hill was quite high and with the tall big trees, the hill was defensible against ground and air units. Still, there was no river at all and the trees were not the type that produces any kind of eatable fruits. "How long have I been out cold?"

"More than three hours. If you want to know, the pilot did her best to give a smooth crash landing. Too bad we had to leave her at her seat."

"What killed her?"

"After giving us a smooth crash landing, the ship crashed into a tree. The impact was so powerful that the branches of the tree actually pierced through the thick glass and made a few holes in her. We were fortunate that all of us were not dead in that crash."

Knowing that the pilot was the only one who died in the crash, Wesher was grateful to her for doing a good job and also to God, if there was one. Still, the UED marine armour did play a part in saving their lives in absorbing most of the impact in the crash. "So the boys actually found the way out of here?"

"They did, and they were ambushed for it. Corporal McFly was killed immediately and PFC Hunter was mowed down before he was able to get to the safety of this hill."

"Too bad we lost two guys," Wesher sighed, "But the Zerg never learn, do they?"

"Yeah. Effective on an open field, but large numbers lose its effectiveness in a forest like this. Thankfully we had the experience in this terrain using this armour."

"And it would be better if we had lighter armour, though."

Sergeant Aldoren nodded. "What are we going to do now, Wesher?"

"There is no point of communicating anyone right now. The trees obviously hamper our communication and anyone we know might already be dead. We need to get out of here. There is nothing we can survive on this hill."

"But where should we go?" Sergeant Aldoren asked, looking at him hard.

"I don't know, all I know that we can't stay here. How long ago did McFly and Hunter get killed?"

"About two hours ago."

"All right. I'm getting out of this armour."

"For what?"

"Easier for me to scout."

"Scout? But the Zerg might still be out there."

"I know the risk, Hank. Now tell the others that I'm coming out. And by the way, thanks for taking care of me."

"Sure thing Wesher. But I didn't go to medical school to take care of dead people."

* * *

Wesher was hiding behind a tree at the edge of the forest. It had taken him and two others almost an hour to get to the edge of the forest. So far, they hadn't encountered any Zerg, but the real test was outside of the forest. With his C-150 pistol, Wesher was ready to become the guinea pig. Wesher slowly moved out of the forest. Even with his pistol held high and two guys covering him, he hoped that there won't be any Zerg at all.

Suddenly, Wesher felt a slight rumble in the ground in front of him. After fighting against the Zerg for a long time, he knew what made that rumble. Wesher quickly sprinted to the edge of the forest as he could hear the cracks from the ground.

"Get down!!!" shouted one of the marines.

Wesher dropped down to the ground. He could hear his two marines firing their weapons fiercely at the Zerg. Wesher don't know how long they took to get rid of the Zerg, but he was glad that he was still alive and unhurt.

"You alright, Boss-man?" asked one of the marines.

"Yeah, I am, Johnny. Thank you boys," replied Wesher after scrutinizing his body.

Wesher got up and as he turned, he could see three dead Zerg units on the ground. Three Zerglings. He was glad that none of the three were Hydralisks. _Well, not yet anyway._

"I think we better get back to the hill, First Sergeant. It is safer there," said the second marine.

"Safer from the Zerg, yes. But we still don't know anything about this planet. We might encounter something much more dangerous than the Zerg in the forest. Besides, where should we find food?"

"In the forest, Boss-man."

Wesher looked at him hard. "The hill is defensible, but it won't last long. Both of you know about this, don't you? We must find a more defensible and habitable place. Are you with me, guys?"

Both the marines looked at each other and nodded, "Yeah, we're with you, Boss-man."

"Alright, same tactic. I'll head out first."

It had been another hour since they restart their journey. So far, there had been no Zerg along the way. Somehow this situation made Wesher wonder. Just a few hours ago, Sergeant Aldoren had told him about a lot of Zerg being present around the forest. So far, there had been only three ground-based Zerg units.

Wesher felt the same rumble again, but this time, the Zerg unit came out faster than usual. He called out to his two men and saw them running towards him.

Somehow Wesher's instinct told him to jump forward. Serving so many years in the military as a frontline soldier had made him trust his instinct. He jumped forward to the ground and rolled. He noticed that the Hydralisk scythe-like arms had just past his previous spot.

Through his experience of using his pistol, Wesher do not need to really aim it with his eyes and just pulled the trigger. However, the bullets deflected from the Zerg's face even though he shot directly at it.

The Hydralisk was over him now, but then the two marines fired ferociously at the Zerg. Even though the Zerg was being peppered with so many bullets, the creature seems to be able to withstand it more than any other Hydralisk. Wesher suddenly realized that this particular Zerg was not a normal one. It screamed like hell and aimed the sharp end of its arms at Wesher.

_Oh shit!_ Wesher thought at that moment. _I never thought I would die like this._

Suddenly, a loud shot was heard and the Zerg's face was blown away sideways. Wesher quickly moved away from receiving the acidic blood as the Zerg dropped to the ground. He, along with his men, looked at the source of the gunshot.

There was smoke coming out from thin air. At first, Wesher was not able to see anything, but after a few seconds, he could see an outline of a human. Suddenly, there was a crackle of electricity and before the three men stood a female Ghost.

Both the marines aimed their Gauss rifles at her. "Who are you and what's your purpose?"

"Stand down. And Steve, calm down, will you?" Wesher said. He then turned his head to face the Ghost, "You're one of Admiral Stukov's Elite Guard, aren't you?"

"How do you know?" answered the Ghost with a very feminine voice.

"The emblem on your chest, I've seen it before. It is good to see another UED survivor. I assume that your ship crashed around this area?"

"No, my ship didn't crash and not this area. I'm here to bring you and your men to a base."

"A base? You found a base? And you went through Zerg forces to bring us there?"

"The Zerg had already left this system. What you saw here was the one who was left behind. Now, cut the chatter and get your men here. We will talk later at the base."

Wesher nodded, "Alright. What are you looking at, Steven?"

"Just wondering what kind of Hydralisk is that. It should have died when both of us attacked it."

"Hunter-Killers. The same strain that attack the Psi Disrupter. I'll go and get the men. Both of you stay here," Wesher ordered. While he was running back, a thought came to him. Wesher wondered what actually made him believe what the Ghost had said and followed her order.

* * *

It was nearly two hours later that all of them finally reach the base. It seems that she was not the only one that survived the attack. There were six people with her; two were medics, three were engineers and a pilot. And the base was not a military base at all; it was a military science facility.

The facility had all the defensive system a military base would have, at minimum. It was located in a valley and the large portion of the facility was built into the side of a cliff, as if to hide the facility. Still, it was better than no base at all.

Among all of the survivors, the highest ranking military personnel was Major Channing of the UED 121st Engineering Corp. One of the medics was a lieutenant named Fennor while the Ghost, who named herself Ares and as usual for the UED, do not have a rank. The only thing that separated the Ghosts from each other was the number of squares on their uniform. No squares meant for a Private while four squares was equivalent to the rank of Captain. She had four.

According to the Ghost and her group, they were from the Battlecruiser called _**The Imperial Commander**_. Like the _**Versailles**_, their Battlecruiser was destroyed and their dropship managed to get out of the chaos and landed safely on the planet. After they landed, she said that she became aware that something was calling out to her. That was how her group managed to find the facility. And because of the Ghost being a telepath and all, she had sensed Wesher and his men and brought them here.

The Zerg, as she said, had already left the planet, apparently sometime after Wesher's two unfortunate soldiers were killed. They left in a hurry as if something happen on Char that a few Zerg units were left behind.

_Just what is that damn bitch planning? _Wesher thought. _I hope it is not something ominous._

Wesher wondered if the Ghost's situation was just pure luck or the will of God. She may have used her telepathic abilities to land safely, but that abilities did not really answer on how she managed to detect the building. After exchanging stories with the other survivors, Wesher, the two officers and the Ghost decided to really explore the facility.

* * *

It had been 10 months now living in the facility. Wesher and his men had been cleaning up the place and made it more defensible. The weapons from armoury were not much, only a few assault rifles and shotguns, and two heavier mini-guns. There were a lot of ammunition to compliment the weapons, yet there were nothing suitable for their C-141s.

Another thing that they found was a nuclear bomb. Upon further inspection though, the most important thing was missing: the casing that holds the nuclear. The bomb was still strong enough to destroy the base, but without the nuclear, it won't be able to take out the large area of the valley. Wesher was glad for that since the planet was a beautiful place to live in.

After 10 months of thorough exploration, the survivors realized that the former Terran Confederacy actually owned the facility. With the help of the engineers, the entry logs were retrieved from the computers. The last entry showed the base was abandoned for more than 12 years.

Further into the logs, they found that the facility was the ground of so many Zerg-related experiments. The experiments revealed a lot of things, among them were ways to attract the Zerg, how a Zergling killed a human being and ate the corpse, and how to kill a Zerg ground unit with one shot.

Seeing all those things, some survivors vomited in disgust. It was odd, that these experiments were not taken along when the Confederacy left this planet. However, based on how messy the place was, it seemed that the former government left in a hurry and never had the time to really destroy anything.

One experiment showed the scientist using a familiar devise that was used by the Terran Dominion, a Psi Emitter. A thorough search by Ares was fruitful as she had found one of those things. So how she found the facility was answered. Ares had detected slight residue from the emitter even though it was not used for a long time. Wesher, Major Channing, Lieutenant Fennor and Ares had agreed to keep the presence of the emitter a secret between all four of them so that no one would ever use it.

Another search through the computers showed the planet was called Avictus III and the coordinates put it as last planet of the system, much like Pluto. It was strange that the planet was not inhabited by the Terran colonist, the Protoss or the Zerg. Nor was it destroyed by anyone.

Wesher then realized that this planet was the first planet that his Battlecruiser _**Versailles**_ encountered when the ship became the first to reach the sector. He remembered that the ship's commander scanned the planet and did not detect any hostile units or any minerals or Vespene. Basically this 'rock' was quite useless to be occupied. Even though the planet was barren of resources, it was actually a perfect choice to conduct experiments since no one would actually visit it.

During those months, Wesher had found a small still workable datapad. Seeing the contents had been deleted and were not retrievable, he decided to use it as his personal journal and started to scribble what he remembered from the day they arrived on the rock.

As he wrote, Wesher was beginning to feel afraid for their future. Having the Psi Emitter in the base made him wonder if they were safe, outside and inside. Well, at least Wesher got a few ideas on how to dispel his men's fears. Probably with the exception of Sergeant Aldoren, since he got close with one of the medics. A good way to get rid of the fear, but too much would make the men lose focus.

* * *

Everyone had finally settled in. So far, it was too early to know if anyone had reach their breaking point, but Wesher, Ares and Fennor kept a careful watch on the men. Making the soldiers to have 3 guard duty shifts and also patrol outside the base seemed to make them sane for now.

The three engineers, with the remaining spare parts from both dropships and also the facility, managed to repair the facility's radar equipment. However, the facility's communication equipment was beyond repair. Perhaps the Confederacy destroyed both the radar and communication equipment in order to protect the results of the experiments.

_But why leave them in the first place?_ Wesher thought. _Or why not destroy the whole facility, for that matter? Still, it is pointless now to know reasons since the Confederacy's dead._

Living here for one year, isolated from the enemies, but far away from home, should make a person feel safe in a way, but Wesher knew they were not safe at all. Being close to the conflict in the sector would put fear to the bravest of men. Wesher felt that way and hoped that anyone outside would not come to the planet with war.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I don't own Starcraft and its franchise, just this story. I thank you for all you guys for reading this story, however, please review it. Tell me whether or not you like the flow of the story.**

Starcraft

3 Years Exactly – Chapter 3

Lieutenant Fennor, Ares, Major Channing and Wesher were going over reviews prepared by the two medics. Checking on the status of the subordinates' minds was quite important as to know which one might break. Wesher had seen a few of his men break under pressure and had to snap them out of it. A thing he had to do as First Sergeant. Wesher hated doing it as he came close to his own breaking point. This time, however, it was different. The men were restless from doing nothing at all and they had the bullets to spend. A person's mind certainly was an odd thing.

"What about exploring?" asked Wesher.

"Exploring?" asked Major Channing, in a surprised look.

"Why not? We basically finished reinforcing this facility."

"I know. We had just come into our second year here and I thought we could make ourselves comfortable."

"Comfortable? You want to stay here doing nothing at all until you're one big fat asshole, is that it?"

"What I meant is, isn't it safer if we stay and defend this facility?"

"True, but staying in this facility for a long time could mess someone's mind. My men and I had been through this before. Among the long list of enemies that we've got, this is among the worse. Certainly you know this would bring trouble instead of benefits."

"I agree with Wesher," said Ares, "besides, we could find something useful now that the Zerg is gone."

"Alright. But where exactly should the men start exploring?"

"This valley, then to the outside."

"Okay, Wesher. You organise it. And don't you dare to be rude to me," said Major Channing.

Wesher just smiled and walked out the room.

Two months of exploring the valley had made three of Wesher's battle hardened soldiers into amateur cartographers. It was odd looking at their drawings without commenting anything. However, the more time they explore, the better the drawings became.

Time worn into the fourth month and the three teams that Wesher organised had already explored the rest of the valley. There wasn't much worry about supplies as the valley provided natural and fresh abundance of food and water. Aside from the fresh supplies, the valley don't really offer anything but open fields, a river, large forest and plenty of cliffs.

Using the same pass to get into the valley, two teams took two different routes as soon as they got out, while one team stayed behind, guarding the pass. Wesher looked at the former route to where Echo Company had taken to get to the valley more than a year ago. He remembered a few months ago that he and his men had went back to dig out the bodies of their former comrades and the pilot to be reburied somewhere near the facility.

After three days, one of the teams found an outpost just eight kilometres southwest outside of the valley. Like the facility, it was abandoned around the same time. However, the necessary equipments were undamaged. Wesher and his men began to have high hopes that they could go home once the facility's communication system was repaired.

"That's good news. It already in the evening, can your team stay there for the night? I'll send Flight Officer Michel and Chester, one of our engineers, to that outpost in the morning."

"Well, we had made the outpost up and running, so yeah, we already made ourselves comfortable here," replied the squad leader.

It was nearly 1100 hours that the dropship finally landed outside the outpost, and with everyone's help, the communication equipment was brought into the ship. The equipment wasn't much of a help though, as the engineers found out later. It was designed to only sent and receive calls and signals planet wide, not outer space. Only the facility had the capabilities to contact anyone beyond the planet.

Wesher began to understand why the facility's communication was damaged, but why damage it if they were going to leave the planet. The question was similar as to the previous year and had the same result. Wesher knew, as it was obvious, that their prospect of going home had decreased dramatically and it was affecting his men.

The equipment hadn't helped much at all, but through the creative thinking of the engineers, the facility's communication system had received a second ability. It became a normal radio, receiving news from the Terran Dominion's news network and also transmissions from any ship that pass the planet, which was seldom.

_A morale booster for everyone, but it didn't change the situation at all,_ thought Wesher. Something in his heart had told him that one of them will eventually break. Wesher refused to believe that, but he knows it will be true.

Wesher was standing outside Ares' room, considering whether or not to tell her about his doubts. _Well, I might as well tell the other two about it._ He was about to knock the door when Ares opened it.

"Whatever you want to talk about, I will be there at the conference room. I'll get Channing."

"Thanks. And stop reading my mind, will you?"

"I didn't, but I can feel your presence and doubts."

* * *

At the conference room,

"What is this all about, First Sergeant?" asked Channing.

"I fear that one of us might break down and lose control."

"The last time I checked, all of us have a stable state of mind."

"I know, lieutenant. The prospect of going home was raised when the equipment was found intact. However, it was dashed when the equipment was not what we expected to be."

"Is this all you want to talk about, First Sergeant? You wake us up in the middle of the night to talk about this? I'm going back to sleep."

"I FEAR for the four of us than my fears for our subordinates."

"What do you mean, Wesher?" Ares asked.

"Only the four of us knows the existence of the emitter in this facility. Our subordinates, when they break, they will only cause havoc, but the four of us, one might just use the emitter."

"What are you suggesting, Wesher?" asked Channing.

"I say we destroy it for our own sakes."

"Wesher, that emitter could be our hope to go home. Without any news from our expeditionary force, the UED would certainly send some reinforcements."

"Have you forgotten, Major, that we took two months to get here? It is almost two years already, they should be here by now. And you do know what the emitter could attract if it is activated."

"I know, but it would call others too, like it did to her," Major Channing responded. "That emitter is still our hope in getting off this rock and going home."

"You don't know if any of the UED ships will come to this sector anymore or even pass by this planet if they really do come here. If the Terran Dominion comes here, they definitely won't let us go and force us to join them."

"You all know about Raynor. Maybe he can help us," said Fennor.

"Most likely he will help us, but as far as we know, he's coping with his own problems," said Wesher.

"I won't let the emitter be destroyed, First Sergeant. Not by you or anyone. Rest assured that the emitter won't be used by me," said Major Channing and left.

"If the emitter is activated, I wonder who would come first?" asked Ares slowly.

"Depends on a few factors, but I hope it is not the Zerg."

* * *

**What do you guys think about this story? Please read and review it. If you can't, you guys can go to my profile and answer the poll there.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I don't own Starcraft and its franchise, just this story. Please, I beg you all, read and review it. I know that a lot of you people are reading this story.**

Starcraft

3 Years Exactly – Chapter 4

Two years. Two years of living in this planet had given Wesher a cocktail of feelings. Glad for living in a beautiful place; fear as this planet was still too damn close to the Terran Dominion and the Zerg; and the feeling of longing to go home.

Using the dropship was a good idea to get out of planet, but to go home, the dropship doesn't have enough power and fuel, even with the help of supplemental fuel retrieved from the facility and the outpost. Joining the Terran Dominion was a ridiculous idea. Forcing full-fledged professional soldiers into working together with 'resocialized' soldiers was insulting. That was what Wesher felt.

_That is the main reason why the Dominion fell first on that platform, isn't it?_ Wesher thought.

Looking through the computer in the outpost more thoroughly, the survivors found out that there were two other outposts. An inspection on the armoury was nothing much. Just an assault rifle together with a few clips and a rocket launcher with a supplement of six rockets. These two weapons along with the weapons from the facility were actually more than enough for everyone to arm themselves.

Wesher decided to spend a night at the outpost as the day was getting late. As usual, he took the third watch and was glad to have made up the plan. Three hours per watch seemed to have work since everyone became less tired lately. Anyway, it was his turn to stand guard until sunrise. Wesher find it unusual that the Ghost wanted to follow his Group One when she was assigned to the Group Three.

"Good morning, Wesher," greeted Ares.

"Good morning, I didn't know that you are awake so early."

"I sleep for four hours a day. The next two hours I usually meditate."

"You meditate? I didn't know that for the past two years. Hard to believe that a Ghost would actually do that. Why? You spiritual or something?"

"No. I usually meditate as part of my training in honing my psionic and psychic abilities."

"Oh. Sounds difficult."

"Yes, it is. As was our Ghost Training Program."

"Thinking back to my training, I realized it was hard too."

"Tell me about your training."

Wesher thought for a while, considering whether or not to tell her. "No. I had lost too many men to remember vividly."

Ares sensed a deep emotional scar and sadness in him. She just nodded and kept quiet after that.

"You can tell me on why you use a male name."

She looked at him. "Even though all Ghosts were trained in the same program, each of us was considered as a project. My project was called Ares."

"Why not Athena? It is a female name, isn't it?"

"How do you know about this kind of names?"

"I read a lot when I'm off duty."

"Athena had been taken by some other Ghost, so I had to settle with this name."

"What about your real name? Didn't really get your real name in the past two years."

"You and your men had been asking that for a long time. Shouldn't you just give up in asking me that?"

"Shouldn't you give up in resisting?"

She just smiled and said, "To tell you the truth, I don't even remember my own name. I was taken in when I was very young and was trained since then."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"I thank you actually for talking to me. I never have been comfortable talking to anybody for a long period."

"Then why are being so chatty all of a sudden?"

"I got a bad feeling for a few days now. I don't know why, but I felt that I need to speak to someone."

"What kind of bad feelings?" asked Wesher, keenly.

"Something bad is going to happen to us."

"To this group or to all of us?"

"The whole lot. I fear we won't be on this planet for long."

Wesher looked at her hard, "You certainly took your time."

"I'm sorry. I just don't know how to say it."

"Based on my experience as a frontline soldier, that is called instinct and I always trust my instinct. We should call back to base. You can start trying to sense psionic waves or any sort of things."

"All right."

"Group One Leader to Home Run, do you read me?"

"Home Run to Group One Leader, read you loud and clear. What seem to be the problem?"

"Chester, is that you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Nothing. Could you do me a favour?"

"What kind of favour?"

"Could you keep a closer look on the radar?"

"We ARE keeping two eyes on the radar, sir."

"I know, but I want a report every six hours. Can you do that, Chester?"

"I can, but why?"

"Just do it for me, okay."

"All right."

"That went well. Chester will certainly tell Channing about the favour. I will certainly be scrutinized by him when I get back."

"He is the type that wants to take control. But your men consider you as their de facto leader," said Ares.

"Combat soldiers always prefer combat leaders and familiar faces. It will be no wonder if they follow my orders instead of his."

"How long have you been with your company?"

"I have been with Echo Company for more than 13 years now. However, this bunch, I had been with them for more than 10 years."

"10 years?"

"Some of them are newer recruits while the rest are transfers."

"You know, your men really are diverse. Asians, Africans, Westerns."

"It is going to be pretty bad, isn't it? Since you're very chatty."

Ares just kept quiet.

"Sergeant Aldoren is an Australian, by the way."

It was 10 minutes after 1300 hours that Wesher's team reaches home. Wesher later found out that the two other teams had been sent out to the two outposts earlier that morning.

As Wesher had predicted, Channing had begun questioning him and Ares.

"A hunch? You want a report every six hours from reading the radar based on a hunch?"

"Yeah, that's about it," replied Wesher.

"How much do you believe it, First Sergeant?"

"Being an experienced frontline soldier, I fully believed in it."

"You, Ares?"

"I trust his explanation."

Wesher could see that Channing was actually considering whether or not to believe the hunch, "So do I, actually. But I hope you're wrong Wesher."

"Me too."

The two remaining outpost was just the same as the first. All their communication and radar equipments were undamaged and the armouries were empty except a few ammunition magazines and a couple of rockets.

Since the hunch, the exploration had decreased to just one team doing it for almost eleven months. The emitter had been kept inside a secure room with a protection of a password, but the four had agreed that instead of one, there should be rotating passwords.

"How do your men take it? Most of the men are confine to this base while a team of five doing the exploring," said Fennor.

"All of them can take the disappointment without much fuss, but they do have one thing in common: resentment. They got frustrated that they can't go out as much as they want to anymore."

"Well, it is a sacrifice we all have to make for our safety."

"Yeah. But my boys prefer to believe in hunches from anyone within the company, especially from me, not from some other group of soldiers who doesn't know how we work."

"You believe in her hunch, don't you?"

"The truth is, I don't know. However, knowing how they work, Ghosts were able to sense certain dangers on the battlefield. That is something I couldn't really ignore."

"Sensing dangers on the battlefield and hunches are two different things."

"I know. How is Aldoren? Is he being a good assistant and medic in all these 2 years?"

"He is good actually. He would be a qualified medic if more people got wounded. His medical knowledge really helped us out."

"He could be a full fledge doctor if it wasn't for the Damian Uprising."

"I agree," replied Fennor. After a few minutes, Fennor left Wesher by himself.

After seeing her off, Wesher took out his datapad and scribble whatever things that happened for the day. He was in the middle of writing it when Aldoren came up to him.

"Still writing your love letters to Ares?"

"That question is getting on my nerve, Hank."

"Sorry, but everyone here knows that Ares likes you."

"That is a load of crap."

"Don't you have any feelings for her?"

Wesher looked at him hard.

"All right, all right, I'll stop. You know, you write as if someone would actually read it when everything that we do here will never leave this planet."

It was more of a statement of fact and Wesher knew it. "I know, Hank. I did it to keep myself sane."

"I know, Daniel. Sorry for being sarcastic. Thanks for being supportive though."

"You're welcome," said Wesher, smiling. It was a long time since anyone called him by his first name. He finished up what he wrote and looked at the date again. It was slightly more than one month before their 3rd year anniversary being on the planet.

"How is your relationship with Diana?" asked Wesher.

"It's good actually. We would have married if we were back on Earth Sector."

"If it wasn't for our situation right now," Wesher gestured to the surroundings, "you won't meet her at all."

Aldoren nodded in agreement and left. Thinking back, Wesher recalled what Ares had told him at the outpost. Wesher liked talking to her as she had the same mind as his. However, Wesher never thought that he and Ares would be so close.

It was one week later that Channing called for Wesher and Ares again.

"It has been eleven months now since that hunch. Still confident in it?"

"I am. It is still possible that some form of danger might still come here," said Wesher.

"What about you, Ares?"

"I agree with First Sergeant Wesher, sir."

"I'm lowering the alert level and the radar reports will revert back to the usual daily basis. I'm sorry, Ares."

"It is okay, Major," said Ares. Her face was as usual, expressionless, but Wesher knew that she was quite happy that her hunch was wrong.

A week before the 3rd anniversary, almost everyone was out at the facility's outer defence barrier preparing for a party. Suddenly, Ares jerked her head to face the blast doors that leads into the facility. She then ran inside quickly.

Her sudden reaction attracted the wonder from everyone. Fennor and Wesher looked at each other and were the only ones following her. Both of them finally managed to catch up with her, but she was in an unexpected place: the room that kept the Psi Emitter and its doors were open. With the feeling of urgency, Fennor and Wesher quickly peeked through the doors.

Channing was inside, together with one of his engineers, Chester. There was a screwdriver in Chester's hand and he was holding threateningly at his own neck. Wesher then realized that the emitter was activated.

"Just calm down, Chester. Give me the screwdriver," said Channing calmly, yet urgent.

"Who else knows about this thing? Just the four of you?"

Channing looked back to see the other ranking officers, "Yeah, only the four of us. With you, that will be five."

"Why didn't you tell the others? Don't you trust us?"

"We do, with our lives, but the less people to know about this, the higher the chance that this thing would not be used," said Channing as he moved nearer. "You don't need to do this, Chester. Can we talk about this situation calmly?"

"Calm? How can I stay calm about this? It is more than four years since I've seen my wife and kids. Four damn years in this hellish sector and you didn't tell us that we had a chance of going home using this emitter!"

"You do know what it can call, don't you?" Ares suddenly asked.

"I know what it does."

"Is that why you activated it?"

"Yeah."

"Please drop that screwdriver and shut down the emitter," said Ares, softly.

Hearing that, Wesher wondered if Ares was actually using her telepathic powers to influence him. Still, her method was working as Chester lowered the screwdriver and deactivated the emitter. After that, Chester broke down in tears. As Channing and Fennor escorted Chester out, Ares made sure that the emitter was properly shut down. When Ares checked the battery compartment, there were four energy cells.

"As I remember, Channing had taken out all four energy cells and gave each one to us. How did Chester get all four cells, get past the door and activated this thing?"

"We got to ask Chester then."

"The emitter had been activated for nearly ten minutes. Do you think it is strong enough to call anyone?" asked Wesher.

"It is strong to call anyone in this sector."

Wesher looked at her in terror. Right then, he wanted to pray to God.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Ares. Her voice had betrayed her cool, calm face. She was actually worried.

"Be prepared for anything. In the meantime, I'm going to tell the rest of the men of what happen here and also the truth."

"Want me to tell Channing and Fennor about your plan?"

He thought for a while, "I'll tell them myself. You coming?"

"Yeah. What should we do with this thing?"

"Leave it as it is. The emitter might still be useful. And lock the doors."

**What do you guys think about this story? Please read and review it. If you can't, you guys can go to my profile and answer the poll there.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I don't own Starcraft and its franchise, just this story. Please, I beg you all, read and review it.**

Starcraft

3 Years Exactly – Chapter 5

There was one common feeling that all of them showed when they were told about the emitter and what Chester had done: anger. Same questions were posed again and the same answers were given.

"What are we supposed to do now?" asked one of the men.

"Hope for the best," Wesher responded.

"Who do you think will come?"

"Jim Raynor, I hope; Zerg at worst; Dominion in the middle. The best course right now is that everyone will be on standby for battle."

"Agreed," said Aldoren.

"Well, at least combat soldiers like us could still take it better than the engineers," said one soldier.

Hearing that, Channing's face went red.

"That's enough, boys. And one more thing, I want to apologize for keeping this truth from you," said Wesher.

Echo Company, the pilot, the second medic and the last engineer gave a silent treatment. Somehow Wesher felt that all of them were shooting an invisible beam from their eyes through his body. From their silence, Wesher knew they wanted all four ranking officers to apologize.

Later, Chester finally revealed on how he acquired the four energy cells. Since the hunch, he noticed the four frequented a particular room way too often. So he checked the room and being the engineer that he was, he bypassed the security. Figuring that each cell was kept by the four, he bypassed their rooms and using a detector that he created, he found them. The ranking officers finally decided to confine him to the brig for three days. Wesher actually wanted to execute him, but since the possibility that the Zerg or the Dominion might come and the need for all the help, he just leave the decision to the other three.

Into the fourth day and there were still no readings from the radar. Wesher felt grateful for that, considering the emitter was activated for nearly 10 minutes. There were no reports of any kind from news agencies reacting to the signal. However, everyone in the facility knew that a lot of people had certainly picked up the signal and investigating it covertly. During this time, Wesher, in his heart, hoped that Raynor would come and help them. Knowing that the Protoss under the leadership of Artanis had gone aloof, he also hoped that they would do the same thing, but that would just be a fleeting dream.

Later, Wesher was walking along the defensive barrier of the facility in his third watch when Ares came up to him again.

"Good morning, Ares."

"Good morning."

"Anything on your mind?"

"Today is the fourth day, you know."

"Yeah, I know. We should be thankful that we're lucky so far."

"Wesher, I want to tell you something that I should have told you days ago."

"Tell me what?"

"It is hard for me to tell you, so I'll tell you bluntly. I like you, Wesher, for a while now. Your confidence, strength and conviction that gave your men strength to move on also gave me a positive attitude. I feel very comfortable just being near you."

Figuring out all the hints from his men and looking at his relationship with her for the past year, Wesher was half-expecting her confession of feeling for him. If he hadn't known about it, he would have brushed it aside as a woman who merely had a simple crush. However, seeing her eyes, he knew that she was serious about her feelings.

Seeing his reactions, Ares turned her face away. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't say that. It was idiotic of me to embarrass myself."

She was moving away when Wesher pulled her back.

"The feeling is mutual, Ares."

Ares looked back at him, smiling. That was first time he saw an expression on her face.

"You know, smiling really does make someone look better."

"Thank you, Wesher."

"It is not really a compliment. It was more of a general statement. Looking better when smiling applies to anyone."

"I know what you mean, Wesher, but thanks anyway." After that, both their hands held together tightly.

* * *

On the fifth day, at the conference room.

"Our radioman had received a few rather disturbing and urgent reports. Today, the Dominion's media network is reporting news of Zerg movements that had started four days ago. Dominion ships had made hostile contacts against the creatures in three star systems. Guess where the line of the systems ends," said Channing.

The other three knew what he meant.

"So they don't know where the signal came from?" asked Wesher.

"The Zerg or the Dominion?"

"You know what I mean."

"Apparently they don't know, but they're heading the right way. The Dominion seems to be investigating much faster than the Zerg, but encountering the Zerg will most likely preoccupy them for a while. That being said, the chances of those assholes coming here just got slimmer. However, I can't say the same thing for the Zerg though," said Channing as he stopped to take a breather.

"How can you be so sure that the Dominion would not come here?" asked Wesher.

"As you know, a quarter of the Dominion forces were committed to the Heir's protection. Another quarter to concentrate on rebels and terrorists, like Raynor. The rest were concentrated within their borders. I believe that the Dominion is too damn busy solving its own problems that the ones that are fighting with the Zerg right now are just frigates and Wraiths."

"The best way is to hide ourselves right now, isn't it?" asked Wesher.

"Yeah, might as well put everyone on battle alert also."

"Agreed. If I may add, why not we put the emitter into the dropship?" asked Wesher.

"For what?"

"If the Zerg come by here, we could use the emitter to draw them away from this base. However, if it is the Dominion, we don't need to use it since they do have their own Psi detector. I just hope they don't use a Ghost."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"All right, do it. By the way, Sean and I had completed in creating _Marcedum_, so I want all your ammo by 1200 hours."

"You managed to create _Marcedum_? Is that what you and Sean did for the past six months?" asked Wesher.

"Yes, we did, with a lot of hard work to get it right. Just finished it three days ago."

"Alright, my men and I will give in our ammo by then. I'll personally help out in applying the formula."

"If you don't mind, could any of you tell me what is _Marcedum_?" Fennor asked.

"_Marcedum_ is a special liquid that allows anything to penetrate hardened surfaces. In our case, the ammunition for the light assault rifles and shotguns," replied Channing.

"Does it really work?"

"It works. I've seen it work," answered Wesher.

With that, they all left the room.

* * *

It was the eve of the last day when the radar picked up an enormous energy source from space. It was a warp rift.

"ZERG! ZERG IS HERE!!!" shouted Chester when he ran out of the radar room.

Everyone was shocked when they heard it. At first, it was hard to swallow. Then they came to their senses.

"Echo Company, stand down," ordered Wesher.

The four gathered behind Chester, intently looking at the radar screen quietly. There were already 11 Overlords coming out form the rift and more were coming.

"Why aren't there any flyers coming out?" asked Channing, but it was more towards himself than a general question.

"Maybe they are still fighting against the Dominion," answered Fennor.

Even though it sounded absurd, it was actually plausible. There was a silent agreement for that answer. The rift was finally closed without any flyers coming out. Everybody felt at ease as they don't need to face a flyer, especially a Guardian. However, what came out was not what they expected. 50 Overlords came out from the rift and were heading toward their planet.

"No flyers, but 50 Overlords? They must be carrying a lot of ground units," said Chester.

"Yeah, but what kind?" asked Channing.

"If you want to investigate and knowing that your enemies would want to know what you're up to, what would you do?" asked Wesher.

"Investigate as fast as possible," answered Channing, "Zerglings inside their bellies then?"

"Most likely. Hydralisks are very powerful and accurate, but slow. Ultralisk is much faster than the Hydras, but clumsy because of its size. Besides, Zerglings are the easiest units to be created and always in bulk."

"How do you know about all of these?" asked Channing.

"I have to know the enemy before fighting them."

"50. A battalion maybe?" asked Ares.

"A division most likely," Wesher responded, knowing that it might scare them. "How long do we have before they come down to the planet?"

"About three hours," Chester responded.

Right now, everyone was waiting inside the facility, wanting to know what the Zerg's next move. With the four's agreement, Michel took the Psi Emitter to the furthest outpost and place it inside.

The general plan was to wait the Zerg out. Let the enemy investigate the entire planet and hopefully they would miss out the facility and the outposts. If that don't work, or if the facility's location had almost been compromised, the pilot had to activate the emitter and leave immediately. The Zerg would definitely destroy the outpost and hopefully they would stop investigating. If they do continue their purpose, hopefully they don't find the facility. But if they do, Wesher and his gang would have to fight.

The Zerg had finally arrived on the surface. All of them had predicted that there would only be Zerglings consisting of this taskforce and it turned out to be true.

_We were lucky that day. And I hope our luck stays with us,_ thought Wesher.

Echo Company had crashed landed on the planet that day at around 0827 hours and there were less than 8 hours and 27 minutes left to be exactly three years. By this time, the Zerg had found an outpost nearest to the facility.

Receiving Wesher's order, the pilot activated the emitter and immediately left. As expected of the Zerg, they came in swarms and destroyed the outpost. However, instead of leaving, they attacked and destroyed the outpost that the Zerg had found earlier. After that, they continued on scrutinizing the entire planet.

"This is bad. They're supposed to get out of this planet," said Channing.

"I was hoping it would work, but considering that Kerrigan is leading them, it is no wonder that the Zerg have a human way of thinking," Wesher replied.

"What are we suppose to do now?" asked Fennor.

"Prepare for battle. That is all we can do now."

* * *

An Overlord was moving towards a cliff in a valley. Wesher had ordered Ares to cloud its vision and she had been doing it intently. At first, it seemed to work, but after a while, Ares seemed agitated and blood came from her nose.

"Ares, wake up," said Wesher. "What happened?"

"She knows. She knows of what I'm doing and our location."

"Who?"

"Kerrigan."

"You sure?"

Ares looked at him hard and Wesher understood it.

"Eddie, bring that Overlord down! Now!"

"Yes, sir!" replied the soldier. Carrying the only rocket launcher, he ran out and fired. There was a loud explosion and bits and pieces of the Overlord fell to the ground.

"Thank God the Overlord was further away from the facility. Echo Company, at the wall and stand guard."

At the conference room,

"Was it necessary?" asked Channing.

"We had to. The Overlord was carrying Zerglings," answered Wesher.

"And how did you know about that in the first place?"

"Instinct, sir."

"Not a hunch?"

"This is NOT the right time for sarcasm, Channing. And we don't have time," replied Wesher and left the room.

* * *

It took five minutes and a lot of firepower to get rid of the first wave of Zerglings. It was that much. Even though _Marcedum_ works perfectly, a lot of ammunition had to be used that the two mini-guns were rendered useless. Two rockets had to be used just to even the odds. Fortunately, no one was killed in the first wave.

As Wesher was looking through the scope, he could see the Zerglings were rallying just further beyond their firing range.

"Just what are they doing? They are rallying in that area and don't seem to be preparing for another wave."

Ares closed her eyes. "Some of them are morphing."

"Morphing? Into what?"

"Something new and powerful."

"We better get prepared for that. Aldoren?"

"Sir?"

"Pool everybody's ammo and redistribute it to non-marines. Echo Company, into the meat-suits," ordered Wesher as he gave his rifle and ammo pack to his sergeant.

Everybody heard the order and obeyed it. Wesher was a bit uncomfortable seeing the major, the lieutenant and the Ghost following his orders, but since he had superior battle experience, they seemed to trust him explicitly.

"Chester, Sean, get the bomb here now and place it about ten metres behind the blast doors. After that, arm it. "

All of them knew what Wesher wants to do. Some of them don't like the idea at all, but it was better to die that way.

The soldiers of Echo Company took exactly a minute to suit up and quickly stand guard at the wall. Seeing the Zerglings amassing, for the second and last time in his life, Wesher began to pray.

"_Oh dear God, if You can listen to me, I got one thing to say. I know that we are going to die here, so I'm not asking for a life extension. All I ask is to let us die well. Let us bring all our enemies down with us. If You can't even grant us that, damn you to hell, asshole."_

Wesher suddenly noticed that every soldier had stopped breathing. He looked around and saw that everyone was looking at him. He then checked his communication system and found out that it was still active. Wesher sighed in annoyance.

"Amen to that, Wesher," said Aldoren, as he patted on Wesher's right shoulder pad. "Isn't that right, boys?"

"YEAH!!!" everyone shouted in unison and laughed away their fears.

Wesher smiled. "Before any of us die, I just want to say something. I'm proud to be among you guys. Proud to bleed and die among brothers and sisters."

This time, Wesher could see a few of the men nodded in agreement.

In the second wave, everyone can actually see a different kind of units on the field. There were large humps on their backs and they moved by rolling. When one of them was hit, it exploded and splashed whatever corrosive chemical it had onto other nearby Zerglings. Wesher could see the bastards melted within a few seconds. In his eyes, this new unit looked like it was a ground version of a Scourge unit. Ares managed to finish them off at the cost of all of her C-10 canister bullets. After that, she began to use her secondary weapon: a shotgun.

Everyone on the wall noted that the second wave was much tougher. All five remaining rockets were used to push them back, but it was not enough. The pilot, as a final act of her sacrifice, rode out in her dropship and crashed it in the midst of the Zerglings. That, however, also failed to stop them from continuing attacking the facility. Dead bodies were piling up the wall so fast that it became a ramp.

"Damn it. There are at least two divisions," said Wesher.

"I agree, Wesher. We cannot hold out much longer on this wall," said Aldoren.

"I know," said Wesher quietly. "Off the wall!!! Echo, defensive perimeters at the courtyard. The rest of you, backup!!"

It was fortunate that everybody, except the pilot, was still alive, but that won't last long by the end of the day. Wesher looked at his chrono and he was shocked by it. The time showed it was nearly 1100 hours and the battle started just before 0900 hours.

"One shot, one kill, guys," ordered Wesher, not expecting a response.

Suddenly, a section of the wall began to distort and melt. The wall melted faster than anybody had expected. They can see the Zerglings were actually waiting for the wall to dissolve properly.

"When the hell did they created another one?" asked a soldier aloud, unknowingly speaking everybody's mind.

Since the Zerg were going through the melted section and over the wall in other sections, Zerglings had surrounded the humans. Ten seconds of fighting in the courtyard had cost ten soldiers. The remaining sixteen tried to move as quickly as they can to get behind the blast doors, but eight were mowed down along the way.

When Wesher saw the medic, whose name was Diana, being mowed down by two aliens, he took a glimpse at Aldoren. There was agony all over the face, but he remained quiet and kept on firing. Out of twenty seven survivors, only eight were inside the facility, alive.

"The blast doors are hard enough to withstand their clawing for about 10 minutes," said Wesher as he looked around. The remaining survivors were himself, Ares, Aldoren, Fennor, an engineer named Sean and three other soldiers.

"Ares, be ready to push the button."

"We're kinda low of ammo, sir," said one of the soldiers.

Wesher looked at him sadly and responded quietly, "I know. Just be ready."

Everything was so quiet that they could hear the creatures clawing the blast doors. However, the Zerg suddenly stopped.

"They are going to use it again," said Aldoren.

"This is good bye then," said Fennor quietly. Nobody replied it, but they all gave a slight reaction.

Wesher turned his head to look at everyone for the last time and focused his eyes on Ares. She was holding a pistol in one hand and the other on the button. Ares smiled sadly at him. Somehow that reminded him of his personal journal. He had kept it inside his armour and wondered if the journal would be safe inside him. Wesher had already wrote his last entry at 0830 that morning and seeing that he was in a very close proximity with the bomb, thought that he had wasted his time writing all those things for the past three years. The thought made him smile to himself.

The blast doors begin to distort. Everyone raised their weapons and ready to fire. The doors melted and Zerg poured in. Wesher managed to kill two aliens before his rifle gave the beeping sound. He took out his C-150 pistol and fired.

Suddenly he heard the bomb being activated and quickly turned to face Ares.

She was smiling at him before a Zergling pounced on her.

That was the last thing Wesher saw before a bright flash overcame him.

**

* * *

**

What do you guys think about this story? Please read and review it. If you can't, you guys can go to my profile and answer the poll there.


	7. Epilogue

**Author's Note: I don't own Starcraft and its franchise, just this story. Please, I beg you all, read and review it.**

Starcraft

3 Years Exactly – Epilogue

"_All of us should have died that day. But we did not. We were lucky to have survived this long and live in this beautiful planet. I don't know if it is by chance, or by luck, or by divine intervention, but I'm grateful to be here with these people. Of course I miss my real home, but I feel closer to home being with them._

_Now that the Zerg is already here, I'm scared. Scared for my men and myself. Come to think about it, I don't want to die like this. Living here made me realize that there is always the option of living a good life beyond the military. Throughout the years I had been raised into believing that military life is the only life I should live and die for. And I'm too damn afraid to live a different life. I should have fought for it, and now, I regret that._

_Refusing to die like this, that is something a coward would say. Cowardice. Fear. No matter how well a soldier is trained, fear will always be there. Every soldier has to deal with it on their own. Some can control that fear and still be compassionate to other people. Some became stone cold soldiers and even though they do their job much better, they had caused a lot of people to die senselessly and sometimes themselves. Some just break down and ran, or worse, die on the spot._

_For me, I'm the first one of course. Whatever soldiers do, they are still human. Humans who are given choices in life and bound to make the right or wrong choices._

_Doesn't really matter now, does it? About my thoughts and what we did here? Nobody is going to read this journal as some sort of report or a novel, is it?_

_If, by chance, a good human being read this journal, please remember us. I have kept the files of the survivors in here to tell you who and what we are."_

That was the last entry of First Sergeant Daniel Wesher, Company E, 5th Battalion of the 101st UED Marine Regiment. That was also the only voice recording in the journal.

The man began to contemplate on what he should do with the journal. He decided to keep it in his safe, for now. The journal had given him one more reason to kill her and also strength to live on until that point.

"Sir?" a voice came through a communication link.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Sir, we will be arriving at our destination in seven minutes."

"Alright, I'll be there on the bridge." He drank up his ale and left his quarters.

**What do you guys think about this story? Please read and review it. If you can't, you guys can go to my profile and answer the poll there.**


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